Home Visit
by Tikal Tyrant
Summary: Set pre-Heavenly Host adventure. Ayumi is concerned when Yoshiki skips school for the first time in a while. Fearing a relapse to his delinquent days, she agrees to pay him a visit. Faking sick gets Yoshiki more attention than he expects. Ayushiki one-shot.


**Home Visit**

Although the sun was shining brightly, and the students of Kisaragi Academy's class 2-9 were, as a majority, in a chipper mood, Class representative Ayumi Shinozaki was disheartened. She had managed to convince Yoshiki to come to school every day last week, which was not a new record for Yoshiki, but the past few weeks had been poked sporadically with his absences. Yoshiki had promised Ayumi that he would make an effort to bring his grades up, but Ayumi didn't see how that goal would be possible if he couldn't even manage to show up.

"That Kishinuma-kun really is a delinquent," Ayumi grumbled to her friends as she picked at her lunch.

"Don't say that, Shinozaki…"

Ayumi jumped at the voice behind her and quickly turned to it. Satoshi had just returned from the cafeteria, holding three school subs. He handed the extras to Naomi and Seiko across from Ayumi.

"Thanks a lot, Satoshi," Naomi said with an apologetic smile. "I promise I'll repay you."

Satoshi waved her off, pulling a seat up next to Ayumi. "Don't sweat it," he said in his gentle way. Sitting beside each other was such a simple and innocent event, but Ayumi still became a little excited.

"Naomi, I can't believe you!" Seiko squealed. "Forgetting your lunch! At this rate everyone will think you're unreliable! Well at least you have Mochida-kun to take care of you, right? Aww."

"Shut up, Seiko," Naomi snapped. "You didn't remember either, so I don't wanna hear it."

"Ah well that's true," Seiko replied, sounding put down. She quickly perked back up though, adding, "We can't all be as self-reliant as our class-rep though, can we?"

Ayumi gave a small laugh before taking another bite and nibbling the tips of her chopsticks, wishing she could have been the one to forget her lunch and that Satoshi had gone out of his way for her.

"Is something wrong, Shinozaki?" Satoshi asked. "You seem a little down."

"N-no, it's nothing. I'm fine," she replied. Of course she wasn't going to tell Satoshi that she wanted him to do nice favors for her.

Satoshi gave a smile that hinted of a smirk. "I know what's wrong. You're worried about Yoshiki."

"Huh?" Ayumi started. "Well, yeah actually. To be honest, I am a little concerned. He didn't miss any days last week, but now he's not here. What if he stops coming again?" Satoshi laughed, making Ayumi grow defensive. "Well that's how he was last year and even the start of this year. It's not that farfetched a theory, you know," she said.

"I understand, but I don't think that's the case," Satoshi replied. "Yoshiki is genuinely sick today. And you don't have to worry about him falling behind, because I'm going to bring his homework to him after school. And if he says he doesn't wanna do it, I'll force him."

The energy in Satoshi's kind words brought a wave of admiration over Ayumi. Satoshi was always so caring, always believing in people. _And his smile is so cute. _Seiko perked up and opened her mouth in a little "o," quickly turning to whisper in Naomi's ear. Naomi must have liked the secret, because an excited grin spread on her face that Seiko soon matched. Ayumi asked to be let in on the secret, but Naomi only said, "Don't worry about it, Class-rep," leaving Ayumi curious and mildly frustrated.

While Ayumi was busy straightening the desks for class, Naomi and Seiko brought Satoshi into a huddle. Ayumi noticed, but she ignored them. When they broke up, Satoshi made his way to Ayumi's desk, placing his hand on the table top and hovering over her with a toothy grin. Looking up at him, Ayumi felt her heart beat faster.

"What is it, Mochida-kun?" she asked, trying to sound collected.

"Shinozaki, since you're worried about Yoshiki, why don't you come with me to take his homework to him after classes?"

Ayumi swallowed hard. Sure, bringing Yoshiki's homework to him was important, but Ayumi could really only focus on the fact that Satoshi wanted to run an errand together with her. Outside of school, even. Leaving the school grounds together, and being seen together in town. Was it really okay to say yes? She looked to Naomi's desk, knowing (it was a poorly kept secret) how Naomi felt about Satoshi. The two had known each other longer. By comparison, Ayumi barely knew Satoshi at all. But to her surprise, Naomi gave her a little wink.

Barely able to look Satoshi in the eyes, Ayumi replied with a meek, "Yeah. Good idea."

Although Ayumi considered herself a good student, she found herself having a hard time concentrating. Her eyes kept drifting to Satoshi. She ran Naomi's wink through her mind. What exactly was she approving of? Surely it couldn't be that she was giving up on Satoshi and accepting Ayumi's affection for him, but that was what it seemed like. Did Naomi know about Ayumi's feelings though? Ayumi was pretty good at keeping that sort of thing secret. Maybe Yoshiki knew since he was around the two of them quite often, but Ayumi didn't think he knew.

Regardless, Ayumi wasn't going to feel guilty about being with Satoshi after school. She was going to make the best out of it. She began to imagine the two of them stopping for crepes on the way, or him pulling her to the arcade on the way back. Or maybe she could convince him to go to a horror movie with her, and he'd be so cute shaking and being scared. Maybe he'd even grab her arm.

"S-sorry, Shinozaki," he'd say apologetically.

"It's okay, Mochida-kun," she'd reply gently. "You can hold my hand if you want."

Ok, Ayumi knew that that sort of thing probably wouldn't happen, but a girl can dream. She hurried to the school gate after finishing her class duties, and her heart skipped when she saw Satoshi waiting for her with Yoshiki's papers and textbook in hand.

"Ok, I'm ready. Let's go, Mochida-kun."

This time when Satoshi smiled at her, it was apologetically. "I'm sorry, Shinozaki, but do you think you could take these to Yoshiki yourself?"

By the time Ayumi could reply a very confused and disappointed, "What?" Satoshi was already pushing the stack of papers and Yoshiki's beat up English textbook into her hands.

"My little sister called and said she needs me to go to the store with her. I totally forgot I had promised."

"Oh… Sure. I mean, you promised your sister, so of course I don't mind," Ayumi replied sorely.

"Thanks. You saved me," Satoshi laughed. "My little sister would kill me if I ditched her. Well, gotta run. Say hi to Yoshiki for me."

"W-wait, Mochida-kun," Ayumi called. "I don't know where Kishinuma-kun lives."

Satoshi barely turned back as he called, "It's not far. I wrote it for you." He motioned to the papers in Ayumi's hand before running off.

Ayumi sighed a groaning sigh, shoving Yoshiki's papers into her bag. She looked at Satoshi's handwritten directions. He was right that it wasn't far, but her shoulders slumped heavily anyhow as she took the first steps of her lonely task. Satoshi had left her. He might as well have stood her up on a date.

_Then again, it's not like this was a date anyhow._

The walk to Yoshiki's apartment was more of a march. All the while, Ayumi's frustration flared. _Who does he think he is, skipping school_? _He better be sick. He better be really sick. I guess it's not his fault I'm not walking with Mochida-kun right now, but… It's his fault I got my hopes up!_

In truth, Yoshiki had not been sick. He was simply tired after working all weekend, and didn't feel like returning to the perpetual grind of pointless schoolwork. _School is most certainly not pointless, is what Shinozaki would say. But… _

At the moment, Yoshiki was sitting on the sill of the window at the foot of his bed, blowing blue smoke over the rusted, curved safety bars toward the sunny sky. Too sunny to have walked to school and back under.

From his bed, Yoshiki's phone buzzed. He snubbed his cigarette on the dingy windowsill and sat it there with two other butts that he had yet to getting around to throwing away. The text message was from Satoshi: "I couldn't bring your homework, so I sent somebody else. Should be there soon." Before Yoshiki could respond, Satoshi sent another message that read, "You'll be either happy or mad."

Yoshiki was displeased with the idea of having any other classmate coming over. Last year, he would have been frustrated to have anybody from school bother him, and even this year there were only a few people he got along with. Satoshi and some of his friends, and the class rep Shinozaki. It was strange, he knew, that somebody like him would befriend a class representative as studious as Shinozaki. Or that a girl as ambitious and cute as Shinozaki would waste her time on a guy like him. Although he didn't mean to take that for granted, he certainly wasn't looking forward to hearing her scold him for skipping school.

The rattling buzz of the doorbell sounded. At Satoshi's caution, Yoshiki peeked through the peephole. The plastic was scratched and warped, but he could still make out Ayumi's form on the other side.

_Shit_, he thought, backing away from the door. _She thinks I'm sick. If she sees I'm perfectly fine, she'll ride my ass._

Yoshiki looked at his clothes. Just the T-shirt and jeans he had collapsed in last night. Not the type of clothes a person sick in bed would wear. He pinched his throat and called out a croaking, "Just a minute!"

He darted to his closet, stripped, and tossed his clothes inside and closed the door. He threw on some sweats that he sometimes slept in, and on his way to the door, he scooped the cigarette butts off the windowsill and tossed them in the trash. He also rustled his hair, not that it made much of a difference. He opened the door, and made sure he roughed his voice up a little.

"Hey Shinozaki. Satoshi said you were coming."

Although Ayumi had looked stern when he opened the door, her expression softened. "You really _don't_ look well."

"So you were suspicious after all," Yoshiki replied, although his offense was unwarranted. He stepped aside to invite her in, and Ayumi stepped out of her shoes and into the dingy apartment, looking it over. It only had one main room for Yoshiki's bed and cheap entertainment center. To the left, the open kitchen was connected, with the little bathroom beyond that.

"So this is Kishinuma-kun's apartment," Ayumi said. "It kinda looks like something from a scary movie."

Yoshiki plopped down on the side of his bed and said, "Coming from you, I don't know if I should be happy or mad about that comment." The words of Satoshi's text message popped in his mind, and he crumpled his nose. _I see what you're playing at, Satoshi_. "Hey," he said to snap Ayumi out of her ogling. "Weren't you bringing me something?"

"Oh yeah," Ayumi said, opening her school bag and pulling Yoshiki's book and papers out. She sat them on his box of a TV. "Your English textbook is in horrible shape. You shouldn't pick or scribble on your school books."

Yoshiki brushed her off with a "Sank yuu" in his best English, rolling onto his side so that his back was to Ayumi.

"Hey, Kishinuma-kun," Ayumi said gently.

Yoshiki turned his head back. "What?"

"You're gonna come back to school tomorrow, right?"

She sounded rather concerned, and Yoshiki was taken a bit aback. Truth be told, Yoshiki had considered skipping tomorrow as well, but Ayumi had a way of influencing him. "Maybe… if I'm feeling better." It wasn't entirely a lie.

"Then you should take better care of yourself," Ayumi said, her tone turning stern. "It's stuffy in here. That's gonna clog your sinuses. And this carpet. Have you ever vacuumed?"

Yoshiki knew his apartment was cheap and dirty, but he didn't mind. He had never thought to be embarrassed by his living conditions before, but hearing Ayumi pointing it out made him uncomfortable. He took a quick breath to tell her to leave if she was done, but some saliva struck his windpipe and brought on a coughing fit.

"Kishinuma-kun, are you okay?" Ayumi asked, kneeling by his bed and rubbing his back. "That's a nasty cough."

Yoshiki rolled onto his back, uncomfortable with Ayumi's hand being there. He cringed to see Ayumi sitting on his dirty carpet. "It's fine. You should leave before you catch something," he said, sniffling from the wetness of the cough. He flinched when Ayumi placed her hand on his forehead. "You're a little warm," she noted before standing up and dusting her knees. Yoshiki felt his forehead as well, and she was right. _Is it warm because I got embarrassed?_ _At least my acting is more convincing._

"Do you have any soup or tea?" Ayumi asked, walking toward the kitchen. "That'll help your sore throat and runny nose."

"Hey!" Yoshiki yelled, sitting up quickly. "What do you think you're doing, Shinozaki?!"

Ayumi opened the fridge and frowned. "All you have is half a bottle of soy sauce and a carton of… expired milk." She closed the fridge and turned to look in one of the cabinets.

"Get out of my kitchen!" he shouted, stomping into the kitchen and closing the cabinet door. "I need to rest, so why don't you leave?"

"Kishinuma-kun, have you eaten today?" Ayumi asked.

"Of course I have! I…," Yoshiki trailed off, realizing that he had only eaten convenience store noodles around lunch time, and that he actually was pretty hungry.

"I bet you're only eating cheap convenience store food, aren't you?" she accused in her ever so accurate manner. Yoshiki didn't know if he was being scolded or pitied, but he didn't appreciate it either way.

"It's really none of your business," he said.

"It _is_ my business," Ayumi replied with a passion that shocked Yoshiki. "You won't get better if you don't eat well. And I decided when we became friends that it would be my responsibility to make sure that you came to school. So you have to get better."

"Shinozaki…"

Ayumi grabbed Yoshiki by the shoulders, and Yoshiki's breath hitched. She turned him around and pushed him toward the main room. "No resisting," she commanded as she led him to his bed. "You just rest, and I'll go out and get you something to eat that'll make you feel better."

Beside his bed, Yoshiki turned around and broke free of Ayumi's grip. "I don't need you to take care of me!" he exclaimed. Feeling a headache coming on, he rubbed his head. Whether this was from hunger or shouting, he wasn't sure. Ayumi's gaze was hard to match, and after a short stare-off, Yoshiki sighed and sat on his bed. "Fine. Do whatever you want."

"Right," Ayumi said triumphantly. "You try to relax. I'll be back soon." And with that, she was out the door.

Yoshiki lay back and rubbed his sore head against his pillow. Things had suddenly escalated further than he had intended. _It's not like I was faking so she'd take care of me_._ Should I have put up more of a fight? Not that I don't like her attention, but… Is it really okay if I just let her?_

With nobody to answer his thoughts, Yoshiki managed to fall asleep. He awoke to the roar of the kitchen faucet, which didn't help his now pounding head. On the floor by his bed now sat two plastic bags from the nearby convenience store. Ayumi had already returned and let herself in, and although Yoshiki was tempted to get onto her for it, he liked the familiarity more than he'd admit.

The microwave beeped, and shortly after, Ayumi entered the main room with a small, Styrofoam bowl and spoon in her hands. "Good, you're up. I hope you like chicken and dumplings. It's still just from the convenience store, but it's good."

Yoshiki sat up slowly, a little weakly, and took the bowl. "You really shouldn't have gone through the trouble. I'll pay you back."

"Think nothing of it. I also got you some medicine," she said, motioning to the bags on the floor. "So take that before you go to sleep tonight. Now hurry up and eat."

Yoshiki ate the soup, and found that it soothed his headache quite a bit. Ayumi found a dusty tea kettle in one of the kitchen cabinets, and although Yoshiki tried to dismiss her, she began washing the pot anyhow. "Tea will be good for you, too. You've been sniffling like crazy since I got back."

Although Yoshiki hadn't noticed this, he realized that his nose really had begun to run a bit. Ayumi boiled her tea, and when she handed Yoshiki a cup, she began surveying the apartment again.

"What are you looking for?"

"A vacuum. I wanna vacuum."

Yoshiki grunted awkwardly. "I don't care what you think your responsibility is, that's not it."

"But I hate messy rooms," Ayumi stated. "I'll bet this is why you got sick. All the dust in the air."

Yoshiki wanted to argue, and say that guys didn't need to have clean rooms. And that he was perfectly happy and healthy with the way things were. But of course, he couldn't quite make that argument while playing sick.

Soon, Ayumi was sucking up the last of the dirt from the carpet.

"All done," she said, returning the vacuum to its closet by the bathroom. She understood why Yoshiki would put off vacuuming with this second-hand appliance. It was small but clunky, with the loose handle coated in sticky residue from the tape that held it to the hose. But when Yoshiki gave her that look that said, "I told you so," she had to finish the job.

"Woah," Yoshiki said, setting his empty cup on the nightstand. "Is that what my floor looked like?"

Ayumi laughed. "It's better, isn't it?" she said, picking up the empty soup bowl.

"That's enough, Shinozaki. I can clean up after myself," he said, and he grabbed her wrist, making Ayumi drop the bowl on the floor. Ayumi quickly jerked her arm free and picked it up. Yoshiki felt his hand chill. Her skin was warm and soft, but the contact was far too direct. Yoshiki tucked his hands nervously into the sheets on his lap. "Sorry…"

"No, it's fine. You just surprised me. I'll stop bothering you soon, but I just wanted to make sure you were okay." Ayumi clasped her hand around the wrist he had grabbed, holding the bowl in the other. "I was actually pretty worried, you know. I was glad when you started coming to school more, and you were even getting along with our classmates. I feel bad saying it, but I was worried you'd relapse or something."

"Didn't have much faith in me, huh?" Yoshiki replied, scratching the back of his head.

"Sorry."

Yoshiki hadn't expected such a heartfelt response or so much concern on his behalf. He felt his cheeks heat up, so he looked away, rubbing his nose.

"That's why I don't mind helping you get better. So you can come back to school and see everyone. But I've overstayed my welcome, so I'll clean this up and leave."

"Shinozaki… Thanks."

With a warm smile that made Yoshiki's face grow hotter, Ayumi took the bowl and cup to the kitchen. Yoshiki looked the room over. It was still a dingy apartment, but seeing it clean reminded him of how free he had felt when he first moved in. Except this feeling was a lot less lonely.

A sneeze shot out of Yoshiki that rung his head, and he bundled his covers up to his neck.

"Kishinuma-kun!" Ayumi suddenly shouted.

"What? What is it?" he asked, throwing the blanket off and putting his feet on the floor.

Ayumi tromped out of the kitchen and stood in front of Yoshiki, glaring down at him. "What is _this_?" she demanded, holding between her thumb and index finger a bent and blackened cigarette butt.

Yoshiki sputtered a few false starts before finally spitting out, "Don't dig through my trash!"

"That's all that was in there! I thought you stopped smoking. You know how bad it is for you. I bet _that's_ where you got your cough." She tromped back into the kitchen and threw the butt back into the trashcan with its two brothers, then she walked sullenly into the main room. "Geez, I came all this way because Mochida-kun asked me to."

Yoshiki scowled. "So that's why you came," he mumbled.

"What?" Ayumi snapped.

"N-nothing," he said, forcing a grin.

Ayumi huffed. "At least you think it's amusing. That I went out of my way cause you're in here making yourself sick."

"It's not like I did it on purp-" Yoshiki started, and was interrupted by phlegm rattling his chest. A barrage of coughs began, but before he could catch his breath, Ayumi was in the entry way with her shoes back on and her bag in hand.

"I can't believe you lied to me," she said, opening the door. Then she paused, turning back and adding, "I actually am worried though, so… Make sure you get better."

With that, Ayumi was gone. Yoshiki cleared his scratchy throat and stood, nearly jerking the light chain off before curling up under the covers, shivering slightly.

After everything, Yoshiki couldn't let himself skip the next day. He sat at his desk, face buried in his jacket sleeve as he took big sniffs to keep snot from running out. His throat and head hurt as well. Yoshiki didn't know if it was karma or a psychosomatic reaction, but he certainly wasn't faking now. When Ayumi walked in, he wiped his nose on his sleeve and sat up.

"Hey, Shinozaki," he said, hoping to hear her gratitude for his presence. Instead, she kept her eyes averted as she took her seat behind him. He frowned and lowered his head again, coughing. For a while, the two were silent. Ayumi kept busy with the papers she had spread out on her desk, and Yoshiki kept his head buried. Finally, Ayumi stopped rummaging and quietly said, "I'm glad you came today."

Yoshiki chuckled into his arm. He sat up and turned to Ayumi. "When the class rep shows up at your place, you kinda have to, don't you?"

Ayumi laughed. "That's right," she said, and she stood to call everyone's attention for the start of class.


End file.
